Last Updated on 2/9/2010

Published on 6/27/2009
Written by Scott Harper

Lightning may be to blame for a five-alarm fire that destroyed a Garden City landmark church early Sunday morning.
Firefighters received the call about the blaze at Garden City Baptist Church on Pine Street near the Georgetown-Horry County line at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Chief Norman Mcknight said because of the extent of the damage, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is helping with the investigation.
That does not mean, he said, foul play is suspected.
“If I had to bet money, I would say it was lightning,” McKnight said Sunday morning.
He said there were two “flash booms” as a storm moved through the area at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
“Those are the ones where you see the lightning and hear the thunder crash at about the same time,” he explained.
The fire started in the area of the church where the Sunday school rooms and offices are located.
McKnight said fire crews worked feverishly to keep the amount of damage to the sanctuary at a minimum. Although that part of the church was nit completely destroyed, it did sustain extensive damage.
The fire was difficult to fight because the flames traveled through the attic which McKnight described as a “big void space” which acted as a tunnel for the fire.
Crews worked to save as much furniture and other items as they could as the fire raced through the two-story structure.
“We did save a Bible that was in the lobby,” McKnight said. “We gave it to the pastor.”
Church members began arriving at about 8 a.m. Sunday for the church’s 8:30 a.m. contemporary service.
Most of them stared in disbelief as the charred shell that remained.
McKnight said about 50 firefighters from his department as well as Surfside Beach, Horry County Fire and Myrtle Beach Fire helped battle the flames that lit up the otherwise dark sky for miles around.
An Horry County firefighter twisted his ankle. Otherwise there were no injuries.